Between a Rock and a Hard Place
by Mimi Motomiya
Summary: After the adventures of The Mystery Begins and Curse of the Lake Monster, the gang are faced with a brand new challenge when their beloved dog Scooby Doo is attacked. Trust will be damaged, friendships will be questioned and a crossroads will come where a decision needs to be made. Can our gang band together through this? Shaggy/Daphne and possibly Fred/Velma.


_Hey everyone! So I wanted to write a Scooby-Doo fanfic because I loved the movies and the series so yeah! Also, just so you can imagine, I see the gang from the live-action as our gang so yeah pretend this is a sequel to Curse of the Lake Monster, thank you! Thanks to_ _ **Cinnamon Honey**_ _for betareading this chapter!_

* * *

 **Chapter One: The Attack on the Adoption Centre**

It had been two years since the defeat of the Lake Monster, and Velma being rescued from Wanda the witch's possession. The gang was in their last year of high school, and they were hanging out in front of the lockers before class.

"Hey Shaggy, where's Scooby today?" Daphne asked, glancing at him. "I mean, usually he waits for you outside."

"Oh, he wanted to go back and check out his adoption centre," Shaggy said with a goofy grin. "He'll catch up on with us after school…"

He didn't even get the sentence finished when a scream of "RAGGY!" resounded through the corridors before Shaggy was knocked to the ground by a shaking and shivering Scooby Doo.

Daphne, Fred, and Velma all crowded around Shaggy and Scooby, managing to pull Scooby away.

"Whoa boy, take it easy!" Fred exclaimed to Scooby as Daphne helped Shaggy to his feet.

"Scooby, what is it boy?" Shaggy asked once he had regained his breath.

Scooby attempted to sign and explain what had scared him, but winced and fell to the ground.

"Scooby Doo!" Shaggy's eyes widened and he knelt besides his best friend. "Are you alright?"

His heart thudded wildly in his chest as Scooby just whimpered. That was when he noticed it. Scooby's right paw was twisted and had a large gash on it.

"Fred, get some bandages," Shaggy said suddenly. "Scooby's been hurt pretty badly. I'm gonna take him home as soon as we get him patched up."

Fred nodded, hurrying off to get bandages. Daphne and Velma knelt down besides Shaggy.

"Scoob, hang in there," Daphne said, gently stroking the Great Dane's fur. "We're gonna take care of it."

Velma leaned closer to take a look. "Jinkies. This was a very carefully made injury, making sure to maim but not kill."

Shaggy's eyes widened. "What? They wanted to kill him?" The thought made his heart clench. If anything happened to Scooby, he didn't know what he'd do. He had to do whatever he could to keep his best friend from harm. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Daphne with a sympathetic expression on her face.

"He'll be alright, Shaggy," Daphne said gently. "We'll get help for him and no one's going to kill him right Velma?" She seemed to glare at Velma who blinked and immediately nodded.

"Of course," Velma agreed. "We're not going to let anyone hurt him."

Shaggy glanced at her before looking at Daphne, who smiled at him kindly. He managed a weak smile as Fred came back with bandages.

"Come on, we better get him out of here," Fred said. "It won't be easy to bandage his wound if we're in the middle of school."

Shaggy picked Scooby up, struggling slightly under the weight of the large dog, and held out his hand for the bandages. "Here, I'll take him home and make sure he's okay. You guys shouldn't all have to miss class, after all. It won't matter if it's me, the teachers won't even notice if I'm gone."

Fred frowned, a little puzzled by this while Daphne and Velma exchanged glances.

"Shaggy, someone should stay with you and Scooby-" Fred began and Daphne was quick to cut in.

"I'll come with you guys," Daphne offered. "Fred and Velma can catch us up on class later."

Shaggy gave a weaker goofy smile before glancing at Fred to make sure it was okay. He knew the two had broken up, but still, it was an awkward situation. Fred was really his only male friend, and he needed to make sure that it was okay for his friend's ex-girlfriend to stay with him for the morning instead of staying at school. However, Fred shrugged, which left Shaggy relieved.

"Be careful, you two," Velma said looking at the two. "That monster, whatever it was, was extremely careful with the attack. Try and stay away from the scene of the crime until we can all investigate."

"Like, I never wanna go to the scene of that crime, since Scooby was hurt there," Shaggy replied, his skin pale as a ghost. Scooby whimpered in clear agreement.

Daphne laughed a little at the two of them to try and diffuse the tense situation before smiling at Velma. "Don't worry, Scooby's safety is more important to me and Shaggy right now than going to investigate."

Velma nodded, and with that, the group separated and went their ways.

* * *

"Ow," Scooby whimpered as Daphne attempted to put some medicine on his sprained paw, which caused the ginger to wince slightly.

"I'm sorry Scoob," Daphne said, biting her lip. "I know it stings, but this medicine will help your paw to get better. It'll help you sleep a little too."

Shaggy held Scooby's other paw in his hand, petting the dog's fur to help keep him calm. "Daph's right, boy. It'll be ok. I'm here, Scooby."

Scooby shut his eyes, small whimpers leaving him even as Daphne finished applying medicine and wrapping gauze around it. It seemed as if the medication did have some form of sedation in it, because in the next ten minutes, Scooby slumped over in Shaggy's lap, fast asleep.

Shaggy gently patted Scooby, looking up at Daphne as she sat down beside him. "Thanks Daphne, for coming with me."

Daphne smiled at him. "Of course. You're my friend, Shaggy." She reached out to squeeze his shoulder. "You know it doesn't matter to me what anyone says."

She knew people at their school found it odd that she and Fred hung around the unpopular kids at school, but they didn't care. Or at least she didn't. Shaggy was funny, easy to talk to, and most of all, extremely loyal. Back when they had first met, she didn't really understand him all that well, and none of them could really understand what kind of person he was. But now, now she knew just what he was. He wasn't as flashy as Fred, or as brainy as Velma, or even as talented as her at acting. Still, the one thing she loved about him was that he was an amazing friend. Wait…love? Where did that thought come from?

"Uh, Daph?" Shaggy's awkward voice snapped Daphne out of her thoughts.

When the redhead looked at Shaggy, she realized she had been staring at him for a while. Her cheeks turned bright pink at that, and she quickly turned her face away.

"Y-yeah?" Daphne stuttered, trying to get her blush to fade, and wondering what was wrong with her. This was Shaggy, for god's sake! It hadn't worked out with Fred, so it definitely wouldn't work out with Shaggy. After all, they were complete opposites!

"Are you okay, Daph?" Shaggy asked. "You're not missing Fred, are you? I mean, is it really okay that you left him to come with me and Scoob?"

Daphne blinked, the redness fading away at that as she looked at Shaggy. "Shaggy, Fred and I broke up. I mean, officially broke up." She sighed a little, muttering "Not that I think we were ever really together."

She shook that away. She had been upset at the time, and the fact that Fred had thought her of simply as a summer fling still bothered her quite a bit. But definitely not enough to spend all her time thinking about it. After all, it was a mutual agreement that they shouldn't be together any longer.

"I know that," Shaggy quickly replied. "I didn't mean to offend you, Daph, I just don't want to make things awkward with Fred."

Daphne sighed a little. "Shaggy, even if Fred and I were together, I don't think he'd care about me hanging out with other guys, it was just a fling to him. Besides, I like spending time with you."

Shaggy gave Daphne a goofy grin. "You're pretty fun to spend time with too, Daph. And your face looks funny when it's as red as a lobster."

He laughed and Daphne whacked his head, although rolled her eyes though she had to agree. Shaggy was fun to spend time with.

"Come on, let's focus on Scooby," Daphne said and Shaggy's expression became a little concerned again.

"I hope he'll be okay," Shaggy muttered and Daphne squeezed his shoulder again.

"We'll figure it out," Daphne promised. "Scooby matters to me too."

Shaggy smiled. "Thanks Daphne. I hope so."


End file.
